A river brings joy to the city of our God,
      the sacred home of the Most High.
 God dwells in that city; it cannot be destroyed.
      From the very break of day, God will protect it.
 The nations are in chaos,
      and their kingdoms crumble!
   God's voice thunders,
      and the earth melts!
 The Lord of Heaven's Armies is here among us;
      the God of Israel is our fortress.

These words from psalm 46 are so encouraging to me...

In the past few weeks we've seen nothing but nations in chaos... Turmoil from within and natural disasters like earth quakes and tsunamis hitting almost without warning. The images we've been seeing are heartbreaking and in some cases almost too much to bear. One man clung to a piece of his roof for days after being swept out to sea, and was eventually rescued. It's hard for me and I'm sure for you as well not to ask the question: "God, how could you let all this happen?" So much suffering and pain...

It's easy for me to forget how life here on this earth is meant to be temporary. Like a vapor on a glass... Until I see an entire city swept away by a wave in a matter of minutes. Tenuous, fragile... that's our human existence.

But there is more than just our meager human existence. We are created for more to be more...God's life in us is eternal, it makes us more! He has placed us in his city and that city he protects forever. He lives there and we live there too, even right now. (Read Ephesians...we are seated in heavenly places with him too... that's somehow also in the present and future all at the same time. My mind doesn't even begin to grasp the enormity and scope of all this, but my spirit expands with joy just reading the words...) Anyway...He is in the midst of that city and he brings his people joy. We have nothing to fear. Not natural disasters, or nulear disasters, or riots or inflation, or any scheme or plan that could come against us...

I am not minimizing the pain and suffering of all those affected by these horrific events. I pray for individuals whose stories I've seen on news broadcasts, I pray for their families, their towns and cities...their nation(s) as a whole. I've asked for God to shower them with his presence and comfort and hope and healing. To meet their physical and emotional needs as well...and to show me what he would have me do. I've been praying for him to use these events to bring multitudes of people to know Him...the one true and living God!

I guess though my point is that since I am not directly involved, these events have impacted me as a bystander only, and that impact has been to cause me to reflect upon the fragility of life, and the eternal purpose of God which is to dwell in the midst of his city and bring his people joy.

As a worshipper of God, I know him to be my peace and my comfort even when my personal circumstances have me clinging to a piece of driftwood for dear life. It is my fellow city dwellers who rescue me...often just by worshipping Him with me. When even two or three are gathered together in his name, the Lord and Commander of all the armies of heaven is present with us. Jesus is in our midst... a refuge, a fortress...a city, a river...life, eternal and unchanging.  This is the truth that I cling to...